After bumpy road victory, Wolfpack aims to motor ahead at home

Published: Wednesday, January 9, 2013 at 12:57 AM.

RALEIGH
— It would be easy to squawk at
North Carolina
State
’s five-point victory to start the Atlantic Coast Conference schedule.

Georgia Tech’s Brian Gregory, the coach of tonight’s opponent, admired what the Wolfpack accomplished. In fact, he would prefer to repeat such a fete.

That’s because Gregory views any road victories a noteworthy endeavor in the ACC.

“I think when you win on the road in your conference it’s always significant,”
N.C.
State
coach Mark Gottfried said. “It helps in a lot of ways, and what you can’t do is give one away at home, which we did a number of times last year.”

RALEIGH — It would be easy to squawk at North CarolinaState’s five-point victory to start the Atlantic Coast Conference schedule.

Georgia Tech’s Brian Gregory, the coach of tonight’s opponent, admired what the Wolfpack accomplished. In fact, he would prefer to repeat such a fete.

That’s because Gregory views any road victories a noteworthy endeavor in the ACC.

“I think when you win on the road in your conference it’s always significant,” N.C.State coach Mark Gottfried said. “It helps in a lot of ways, and what you can’t do is give one away at home, which we did a number of times last year.”

The Wolfpack lost a home matchup with Georgia Tech last season.

Much has changed since then. That’s why N.C.State’s weekend conquest at BostonCollege drew some skepticism. N.C.State is the league’s preseason favorite, while BostonCollege, which was tied with the Wolfpack in the waning minutes, has been picked to finish last.

Such forecasts didn’t deter Gottfried’s outlook after the Wolfpack became one of three road teams to win among the conference’s season-opening six-game weekend slate.

Now, it’s a matter of trying to duplicate that at home. The Wolfpack has won eight of its 12 ACC home openers since moving to what’s now called PNC Arena.

N.C.State, which holds an eight-game winning streak, had an encouraging, yet less than overwhelming, pre-ACC experience.

“They’re 12-2,” Gregory said. “It’s not like they’re 6-8. … Neither of (N.C.State’s losses) would be considered bad losses.”

Along the way, N.C.State leads the country in field-goal shooting at 53.1 percent.

Georgia Tech is coming off Saturday’s loss to Miami, marking the only setback during a seven-game homestand.

“With younger guys, at times we’re going to struggle making some of those shots, making some of the plays you need to make,” Gregory said. “But in this league, you have to move on.”